If someone doesn’t spend enough time prospecting due to poor time management – it’s really a priority problem.
We don’t find the time, we make it.
How can you utilize your time to prospect more effectively, and have more time to prospect?
Here are seven tips to get you on the right track:
- Know the selling hours
In other words, what are the hours of the day / the days of the week that are optimal for you to be on the phone engaging with customers?
It might be between 7:00 AM and 3:00 PM, depending on the industry. It might be Tuesdays through Friday, or Mondays through Thursdays. There are all of these optimal periods–figure yours out–that’s when you should be prospecting.
- Block the time on your calendar
Put it on your calendar and live your calendar. Too many people would say, “Well, I’ll prospect when I take care of everything else.”
Change it to, “I have dedicated prospecting time. This is the window, I’m going to focus on it.”
- Feed the list
This means you prep the list before you begin to call. What I see happening too often is someone spending all their time during their prospecting block thinking about who to prospect.
No, you feed the list by building it ahead of time, and knowing exactly what you’re going to do.
- Remove distractions
Starting and stopping tasks is proven to kill productivity.
This might be shutting off email, or getting rid of other windows that are open on your computer. Removing distractions might also be turning off music (or turning on music!).
- Pre-prospecting drill
This is mental preparation so you’re ready to make it happen.
Think about this: before a team takes the field–what do they do? They’re in the locker room beforehand, and they’re going through their last moment instructions. Even before the game, they come out and they practice. They go through drills. They know when game time starts, they have to be ready.
You have to do the same thing. This might be looking over your list of outcomes that you’ve been able to help customers successfully achieve. Because looking through all the successes that you’ve had helps get you in the right mental state.
- Manage your expectations
Prospecting is very much an activity. Although many times it feels like, “I’m not getting anywhere.” Actually, you are getting somewhere if you’re simply doing the activity!
I get it, it may feel stressful “in the moment” because conversations don’t always go as we hoped. It’s okay. It takes time. Almost no sale is made on the first call. Or the second or the third.
Manage your expectations to complete the activities you have.
- Use your CRM
Don’t think, “Well, I’ll update my CRM at the end of the week.”
No, stay current. Your CRM is your greatest tool to help you prospect more effectively. Use it!
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